


Full Circle

by ghoulaesthetics (astraielle)



Series: Cat Ryder vs. The Universe [5]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 03:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12313281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraielle/pseuds/ghoulaesthetics
Summary: She lasts all of an hour with his family before she needs to step out.





	Full Circle

**Author's Note:**

> ah, do u hear that, its the sound of me wrapping up a prompt i got literally a month ago 
> 
> "Umbrella Sedge - Home" what a weird name for a flower lmao 
> 
> anyway its 3am there's probably gonna be some typos that i catch over the next week so yeah, here

She lasts all of an hour with his family before she needs to step out. 

He’d told her beforehand what to expect. “There are… many of them,” he’d warned on the way down, carefully gauging her reaction as went. “And they’ll want to see you and get personal, likely…  _invasive_ , by human standards.” It worried him, slightly. Jaal was already aware that Ryder found crowded social situations overwhelming. The fact that it was his family wasn’t going to help–though she likely wouldn’t outright admit it, there was no possible way she wasn’t anxious about making a good impression. While he hadn’t made the ‘official’ move forward with her yet, in his head he already considered them a couple–and if the way she constantly brushed up against and held onto him was any indication, so did she. 

“Are you sure you’re alright with this?” He asked once more, concerned more for her wellbeing than how his family would feel about her in the moment. 

“I told you, I’m fine,” she grinned, nudging him gently with an elbow. “Quit worrying so much. I just have to make a kickass impression to over fifty people, a small handful of whom are your mothers. No big deal,” she shrugged. “Just, you know, I hope I don’t royally screw this up somehow and accidentally completely fuck up Human-Angara relations for the next hundred years.” 

“I don’t think even you could manage that in one night,” he laughed. “We’ll have a few minutes to ourselves first. A few more people won’t be there right away, and I’ve got a few things I’d like you to see first.” 

“I _did_ show up on Aya on fire,” she reminded him dryly. “Kind of sets the precedent for being a bit of a disaster. But!” She interrupted herself, leaning against his side, “I trust you. And if you’re saying it’s good, then it’s good.” She looked up at him. “Really, I’ll be okay. I’ll let you know if I need to duck out for a bit.” 

And, as she’d predicted, she needed to do exactly that. 

He’d ushered her into his room almost as soon as they arrived, biding time together before the rest of his relations gathered. Which was completely fine by her, giving her a chance to adjust to the environment. The kissing had been a definite plus too, and if she’d had her way she would’ve been content to just do that for the rest of the night. But, Ryder hadn’t come to Havarl just to tongue with her new boyfriend (and  _that_  was a term she could definitely get used to using, if the way it made her heart thud was any indication). Cat agreed on the detour to meet his family, as per his request. She tried her best to ignore the buzzing indication of new, extra pressure of the implications of her new relationship on said request, but found herself failing miserably. 

The tipping point had been right after she’d been passed around his mothers, with Sahuna taking special interest in her (Jaal hadn’t  _announced_ their relationship, per se, but he did make a point of leading her into the room where everyone was gathered with an arm snaked around her waist–not that she was going to stop it, if anything, she was _relishing_  in it in spite of the round of whispering that went up). They asked standard rounds of questions, with each individual wanting a small piece of her to examine under a microscope. And she wasn’t going to deny any one of them that, if that was what they wanted from her. She had one shot at impressing these people, or at least, not being a complete embarrassment in front of them. She wasn’t about to fuck it up over social discomfort. 

“Jaal,” she whispered when they were done with her, signalling for him to lean down towards her. “I need a quick break. A cigarette. This is… a lot. Not that I’m not having a good time!” She quickly added, and then deflated slightly again. “Just… a lot at once.” 

He nodded, straightening up and scanning the room for an easy exit. “That shouldn’t be a problem. Do you want me to follow you or…?”

“Yes, please.” She was visibly relieved. “Lead the way. I have no idea where I’m going.” 

“With your sense of direction, I’m not surprised,” he remarked dryly. She was about to say something in return, because she possessed an  _excellent_  sense of direction, thank-you-very-much. But before she could so much as open her mouth, he’d already placed a hand on her back, ushering her through the crowd. A few people tried to stop them on their way, getting kindly waved off with the promise of conversation later in the evening. He led her through a small series of back rooms, before they finally came upon the back exit.

Without thinking, she inhaled deeply as soon as she tasted the evening air. The rooms inside had been getting too hot for her liking, though that was probably just the nerves going.

Cat practically flopped onto the metal railing, leaning heavily on it with her forearms. Jaal leaned on it beside her, his back to the forest scenery behind them. 

“So,” he asked after allowing her to breathe for a few moments, “how is it so far?” 

Adjusting her position slightly, she began the ritual of checking every pocket on her person for her lighter and cigarettes. “It’s going better than I thought,” she admitted, locating both objects at once and lighting up almost immediately. “They don’t hate me, which is cool.”

“I suspected as much,” he laughed. “They find you… endearing. Strange, but endearing.” He looked at her sideways, placing a hand on the arm that was being used to brace her upper body on the railing. “I was talking more about with you, though.” 

“Well, there are worse things to be than endearingly strange,” she quipped around her cigarette. “And as for me…” She sighed. “I guess… I’m doing well. But.”

“But?” he asked with genuine concern. 

It made her heart squeeze. “It’s stupid,” she laughed, breathing out a small cloud of smoke as she did so. “I haven’t thought about it since I got here. It’s kind of making me miss home, I guess.” Anticipating questions, she continued. “Like, my immediate family was just my parents, brother and me. But I had a lot of extended family–grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins, mostly from my Mom’s side, they came around more until we moved off Earth. She was Greek, and my dad was half, and I know that doesn’t mean anything to you but this,” she gestured to the house behind them, “reminds me exactly of what it was like when we got together, growing up. Insane, and crowded, but good. And I miss that. Granted, after Mom died we didn’t see them nearly as much–my Dad was an asshole and wasn’t on speaking terms with his dad, so we saw them like, twice. But still. We just… we left all of it behind, and it’s weird.” She rolled her eyes, taking another drag. “I should be totally over the moon right now, and instead I’m out here fighting off anxiety and her weird ugly cousin nostalgia, and what the fuck is up with that?” She laughed bitterly. 

“I think you’re entitled to that,” he said, giving her arm a slight, reassuring squeeze. “Especially considering everything that happened to the people you did bring with you. I don’t think anyone can fairly expect an easy adjustment even without all that. You’re being unfair to yourself again,” he reminded her. “I’m just surprised to hear that this is… normal for you.”

“Well, yeah, kind of,” she laughed. “It’s not like we saw the whole family all the time, of course, but for holidays and stuff–oh yeah, it’s familiar alright.” She glanced up and offered a small, apologetic smile. “It’s not the crowd that made me anxious in there.”

“More the fact that you get to be introduced as the new girlfriend, Initiative Pathfinder, and the first human most of them have ever encountered–all in one go?” he teased, chuckling at her expense.

“And somehow it’s only the first one that’s frying my nerves and not the fact that at least three people have made me hold my hands up so they could count fingers,” she grinned. 

They stood in silence for a few moments. Her looking out over the forest and working on finishing her smoke. Him, quietly watching her do both those things, observing the delicate, careless way she held the cigarette between two fingers, periodically bringing it to her mouth. 

She broke the silence with a deep sigh. “I think, for the first time since I got here, I might actually be missing where I came from. I think I’m missing home,” she said in a soft voice. “And I don’t think I like it.” Disdainfully, she flicked the last of her ashes over the railing, Not wanting to drop her litter anywhere, she stuffed the butt back into the wrapper it came in, and then stuffed the whole thing back into her pocket. 

She shuffled over in front of him and leaned forward, half-collapsing onto his chest. Her forehead was pressed directly into his _Rofjinn_ , and she was greeted with the sweet scent of his perfumes. 

“Once again, you’re entitled to that,” he mused, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and drawing her closer. He always forgot how fragile she looked when she wasn’t putting on a show of bravado for everyone. “And I don’t know if there’s anything I can say to you to make this hurt any less, but I know this–you’ll find a home here. Somehow, somewhere, if I know anything about you, you’ll be able to carve out something for yourself. It won’t be the same, but at least you can claim it as yours. And if it’s more about the people, then…” 

She looked up expectantly at him. “Then what?” She prompted, eager to hear the second half. 

“Then I suggest you start looking for a more well-adjusted group than the Tempest offers,” he laughed, and she did too, not quite snapping out of her funk but at least distracted from it for the moment. 

“That’s such an awful thing to say, oh my god,” she snickered. “They’re–ok, maybe they’re not great people, but I like them!”

“Oh,  _well,_  if something has _your_ stamp of approval, then it _must_ be solid.”

“I approved of you,” she reminded him. 

“One of your better decisions, I think.” And before she could say another mildly-funny, definitely-stupid quip in response, he captured her mouth in a sweet kiss that quickly turned open-mouthed and deeper. If not for the inherent knowledge in the back of her brain that they were on his family property with his entire family tree in the house less than fifty feet from where they stood, she might’ve jumped him right there outside. Before she could play the sensible adult and suggest they break it off before she decided to get exploratory below the belt, the back door slammed open behind them, effectively both scaring them out of their skins. 

“Jaal, Mom wants to know if you– _oh._ ” Cat recognized her as one of Jaal’s younger sisters. “I had no idea that this is why you wanted out,” she grinned, and Cat felt her stomach drop–she most definitely did  _not_  want any of his family to think they slipped out the back door to fuck before family dinner. At least, not before the third date. She liked to keep it classy.

“Yafri, don’t you  _dare_ –” he started to warn, but it was too late. She was off back into the house like a shot, giggling the whole way in.

“Well,” he muttered, “If they didn’t know the exact nature of our relationship, they certainly will now,” he sighed tiredly. “I’m sorry about that–it’s not really the way I envisioned having people hear about us.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” she shrugged. “Scott’s done the same shit to me before. Nothing new here. We should probably follow her, though.” 

“Probably,” he said, finally releasing his hold on her. “If you thought they had questions for you  _before_ …” he trailed off, leaving the rest on implication.

“Don’t worry,” she grinned, suddenly feeling much more sure of herself than she was a few minutes ago. “I got this, remember? Just like home.” 


End file.
